The new headquarters of Gedeon Richter Plc., one of Central and Eastern Europe’s leading pharmaceutical companies, is conceived as an innovative, refined and environmentally responsible office building. Its distinctive architectural identity is nevertheless characterised by restraint and rationality. Through the new headquarters, Richter sought to encourage new ways of thinking, support innovation, facilitate communication among employees, and enable the rapid exchange of knowledge and information. Designed around the needs of its users, the building provides a flexible, open and diverse working environment while reflecting the company’s commitment to environmental responsibility.

The new headquarters is located directly beside the Chemical Research and Office Building, completed in 2007 and also designed by ZDA. The two buildings form a unified ensemble and are physically connected through their shared communal areas and entrance halls.

The massing and façade design respond directly to the existing research building. The curved elevation facing the Chemical Research and Office Building establishes the independent identity of the new headquarters while simultaneously creating a spatial relationship between the two structures. In front of the glazed façade, custom-designed external shading fins of varying dimensions define its scale and rhythm while reducing solar heat gain.

The design aimed to create a working environment that supports collaboration, the rapid exchange of information and the coexistence of different working methods. Accordingly, the internal organisation is based not on a sequence of enclosed office units, but on a network of communal spaces, visual connections, terraces and informal meeting points. The ground-floor entrance is approached from the shared park between the new headquarters and the research building and leads into a multilevel central space that opens upwards through the interior. Timber, glass, planted islands and a restrained colour palette define the atmosphere of the internal spaces.